PointsBet: Anomaly in NFL Betting Causes Net Win Dip Last Quarter

Posted on: February 3, 2025, 03:54h. 

Last updated on: February 3, 2025, 03:55h.

Mark Keast Read More

Expertise: Canadian Gaming, iGaming, Las Vegas, Sports Betting, NFL, Boxing, UFC.

Las Vegas Strip bookmaker Johnny Avello said it best, a few weeks back – this past NFL season, with the Super Bowl this Sunday, was uneven to say the least, from a betting perspective, compared to other NFL seasons.

Early in the NFL season, going into Week 4, the story was how well underdogs were doing, that it wasn’t a good time for bettors wagering teasers, money line parlays, even contests. But Avello did say then that the situation would even out for bettors, and it did.

Operators Feel the Pinch

Sportsbooks have been feeling it all over the place. DraftKing and FanDuel released reports in November warning of reduced U.S. revenue expectations. The latest to reveal the impact was PointsBet.

According to Group CEO Sam Swanell, in an investor presentation conference call on Friday, talking about Q2 FY2025 results (Q3 in Canada, through Dec. 31 2024), total net win in Canada was $8.5 million, down 8% compared to Q2 FY2024. Net win on the sportbook side was $2.8 million, down 22% year over year, and on the igaming side it was $5.8 million, up 1% compared to Q2 FY2024.

NFL Favorites Dominate

PointsBet’s group net win of $63.7 million CAD was negatively impacted, “due to come very customer friendly results in Canada across NFL and slots,” Swanell told investors. The company reported that NFL betting impacted net win by $2.9 million, while negative variance on igaming slots impacted net win by $1 million.

“This NFL season has been the most customer friendly since the launch of regulated online sports betting, with the highest rates of favorites winning in nearly 20 years,” he added. “On the igaming side we continue to see positive shifts in the composition of our igaming customer base and the overall mix of gameplay shifting towards higher margin slot games. While the higher than expected customer payouts on slots games were a drag on our results in the quarter the higher mix of slots activity that we are seeing is expected to deliver improved performance in H2 and beyond.”

Optimism About Alberta

Casino.org reached out to PointsBet Canada CEO Scott Vanderwel for a comment about the financial results, but we haven’t heard back as yet.

PointsBet has been focusing on expanding its content portfolio in Canada, launching three new content providers during the quarter, taking the number of games in their catalogue to 600.

Lots of optimism on the PointsBet front as well about the impending launch in Alberta of a private operator, Ontario-style igaming market. Swanell referenced it in the call, saying it will add a “material amount” to the size of the Canadian market, that “it won’t come with a whole lot of additional costs.”

If the market in Alberta goes live by the time next NFL gets rolling – and that’s a big “if” – of course that will mean even a bigger impact on financial results.